STU Immigration Clinic To Host Pulitzer Prize Winner November 8

MIAMI, Nov. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University's School of Law will host a conference by Pulitzer Prize winner Sonia Nazario at the Moot Court Room at noon on November 8, 2012. STU's Immigration Clinic collaborated with Ms. Nazario in a recent case, inspiring her to generously offer this speaking appearance at the University. Her presentation will focus upon her reporting on the plight and migration sagas of the economic orphans of Central America, children left behind by parents who leave to seek work in the United States.

Ms. Nazario has won numerous national journalism and book awards. In 2003, her Los Angeles Times feature story of a Honduran boy's struggle, travelling alone from Honduras in order to find his mother in the U.S., entitled "Enrique's Journey," won more than a dozen awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Expanded into a book, Enrique's Journey became a national bestseller and won two book awards. She famously painstakingly reported for the book by retracing Enrique's harrowing journey from Honduras to the U.S., including logging thousands of miles stowed away on the freight trains (El Tren de la Muerte) heading north through southern Mexico.

Ms. Nazario has spent 20 years reporting and writing about social issues. Her stories have tackled some of this country's most intractable problems: hunger, drug addiction, immigration. Based in Southern California, she is a sought-after speaker and makes regular television commentary appearances.

In 1998, Nazario was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series on children of drug addicted parents. In 1994, she won a George Polk Award for Local Reporting for a series about hunger among schoolchildren in California. She has been named among the most influential Latinos by Hispanic Business Magazine and a "trendsetter" by Hispanic Magazine.

Nazario, who grew up in Kansas and in Argentina, has written extensively from Latin America and about Latinos in the United States. She sits in an extensive list of immigration advocacy boards, including Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), a non-profit launched by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie to provide pro-bono attorneys to unaccompanied immigrant children.

St. Thomas School of Law offers law students a wide array of clinical programs that bring them an opportunity to practice public interest law as they acquire the legal experience to practice. The University has gained international recognition for its Intercultural Human Rights degrees, the Academy to Combat Human Trafficking and through unique programs such as its Human Rights Institute and the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review. For additional information of St. Thomas University's academic programs please contact Chief Marketing/Communications Officer Marivi Prado at mprado@stu.edu.